Our Book Editors

Formed in 1998 to protect writers from online scams, Book Editing Associates continues to be a one-stop shop for writers looking for vetted and tested book editors, proofreaders, ghostwriters, publishing and self-publishing consultants.

His books have generated more than $20 million in revenue and have appeared on the Today show, The Early Show, CNN, MSNBC, and NPR. His rating on Goodreads.com is 4.2, based on more than 3,000 ratings.

Amy Bennett

Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror

Former Locus magazine editor, Amy Bennett is a critically acclaimed and agented novelist with knowledge of both the craft and the business of science fiction, fantasy, and horror publishing. She has seen a number of writing careers start while working at the Clarion East Science Fiction and Fantasy Writing Workshop, and she is a graduate of the Clarion Workshop with many years of critique experience. As an editor for Shueisha English Edition), she edited and helped package novels and collections over multiple genres, including young adult, thrillers, literary fiction, and erotica, and she is sensitive to the needs of translated texts and authors whose first language is not English.

Beth also offers reading critiques, which are less costly than line-by-line editing, and include: reading of the complete manuscript, plus written comments about structure, character development, plot, pace, reader engagement, tone, voice, clarity and richness of language, and overall marketability.

Theodora Bryant

Book Editor - Science Fiction, Fantasy, Horror and Romance

THEODORA BRYANT has been editing professionally since 1994, ten of those with her fiction-only, award-winning publishing company. She has been a member of the Book Editing Associates network since 2001. During that time her authors have garnered “Book of the Year” in science fiction, and “Finalist” and “Winner” awards in romance and mystery works. Her authors often receive outstanding reviews from Kirkus and Publisher’s Weekly.

She's reviewed, evaluated, and edited thousands of manuscripts through the years; her work has received the highest marks from her authors for the amount of extra effort she puts into helping them achieve the best results with crafting and perfecting their novels. Combining that with her many years studying the world Amazon/Amazon Kindle created for authors, how to make sure her authors know how to get on the “Top 100 Paid on Kindle,” and her knowledge of how agents and editors work in the traditional market, makes her one of the best “edges” you can have for success.

Peggy Campbell

Nonfiction Book Editor and Proofreader

PEGGY CAMPBELL has been editing nonfiction books for more than two decades, working for both top university presses and trade publishers, and several authors return to her for each book they write. She works as a developmental/line editor/substantive editor, copy editor, and proofreader, and is an expert user of the Chicago Manual of Style/Turabian.

She began freelancing after a long career at a newspaper reporter and editor at metro dailies, including editing stints at the San Jose Mercury News and Newsday. Her areas of expertise are history (especially American history), including biography, memoir, and autobiography; journalism; and politics and government, public affairs, and public policy; and equine subjects.

Books on whose manuscripts she worked have won a number of awards and named honors, including New York Times Notable Book of the Year; the Tankard Award; Choice Outstanding Book of the Year; National Jewish Book Award; Choice Outstanding Academic Title—and those are the ones she knows about. She has been privileged to edit forewords by such authors as John Kenneth Galbraith and Morely Safer. Campbell’s own work as a reporter was nominated for a Pulitzer, and various papers nominated that of her reporters when she was a newspaper editor.

Carly Cantor

CARLY CANTOR is a published author and publishing industry veteran who worked for several years as an acquisitions editor at a New York publisher where she acquired and edited numerous hardcover and trade paperback titles every year on a variety of nonfiction subjects, mostly in the areas of current events, how-to, and pop culture. She is currently a meticulous, hands-on independent editor who “becomes one” with every project, paying close attention to both the big picture and the small details. Her extensive experience includes critiquing and development editing of fiction and nonfiction projects.

Stacey Donovan

Award-Winning Ghostwriter, Author and Book Editor

Co-Author of the Red Shoe Diaries series — Erotic Romance

STACEY DONOVAN is a ten-time published book author of both fiction and non-fiction. DIVE, Her first, critically acclaimed novel was published in 1995 (Penguin) and reissued in 2015 (Open Road Media). THE ART OF LONELINESS, a sexy novella, is currently available on Kindle. Co-authored by Donovan, the four-book series based on Zalman King’s RED SHOE DIARIES is also available.

Donovan has edited or ghostwritten dozens of published books for her clients, many of which have received critical acclaim: Two became New York Times Bestsellers (Mystery); another won International Thrillers Awards First Novel Finalist (Thriller); another won Independent Publisher Book Awards (IPPY) 2017 Silver Medal Award (Memoir), Foreword Reviews 2017 INDIES Book of the Year (Memoir), and Stories of Mighty Women Top Biographies 2016; another won Independent Book Publishers Association (IBPA) 2017 Ben Franklin Award, Bill Fisher Best First Book (Fiction).

Marlo Garner

Children’s Book Writer, Editor, and Illustrator

MARLO GARNER has been editing books and teaching writing since the late 1990s. She teaches Writing for Children’s Books (picture books), Writing Chapter Books for Children, and various other writing and revision workshops.

She also works in an editorial advisory capacity, and a copyeditor and illustrator for a number of independent or educational publishers.

Her chapter book series—which contains numerous poems and rhyming verse—was released in 2010, and she is the author and/or illustrator of a number of other published books for children, including a picture book for Internet security giant AVG.

Marlo received first place in the ‘published’ division of the New England SCBWI 2013 illustration awards.

She is a member of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI) and the Editorial Freelancers Association (EFA) .

Joan Giardino

Substantive Editing, Copyediting, Proofreading Fiction and Nonfiction for Children, Young Adults, and Adults.

JOAN GIARDINO is an editor, proofreader, and translator with more than 25 years’ experience in the book publishing industry. Her clients include major book publishers, authors, illustrators, theater directors, and personal historians.

She has edited or proofread hundreds of award-winning published books—children, middle-grade, and young adult fiction, nonfiction, adult fiction and nonfiction, biographies, and personal memoirs.

As an editorial consultant, Joan can:

Ensure that the author’s voice is engaging, clear and authentic

Make difficult information accessible and easy to understand

Copyedits manuscripts, paying particular attention not only to grammar and punctuation, but to plot, characters, details, and stylistic consistency

Oversee the book production process from raw manuscript to finished books

Work with authors and illustrators to make sure commissioned artwork reflects the text

Conduct research to find artwork and historical documents to enhance the text.

Checking the accuracy of works translated into English from French and Italian

Authors and editors alike have benefited from Joan’s experience and expertise. Stephanie Rogers, the author of The Horse I Belong To, wrote, “My thanks would not be complete without recognizing my wonderful editor, Joan, who made everything she touched better.”

Karin Graham has a BA in comparative literature, a JD from William and Mary Law School, and a certificate in editing from the University of California Berkeley. If your novel has fight scenes or involves police procedures or the law, Karin is your specialist. Karin is a trained martial artist, with a third degree black belt in tae kwon do and years of training in hapkido. Karin is uniquely able to evaluate the realism of your fight scenes. She has accompanied police on search warrants, observed autopsies, and been to countless crime scenes. She has training in arson prosecution and investigations and has given lectures to investigators on the subject of search and seizure law and to college students about the insanity defense. She can help add realism to your writing.

Caroline Hiley

Fiction Editor and Proofreader

CAROLINE HILEY specializes in editing novels for independent authors and traditional publishers, including small press and Big Five. She also handles novellas, short stories, and memoirs.

From decades of experience as an editor, along with her experience as an award-winning novelist, Caroline understands the entire writing process from first draft to publication. She helps novice and seasoned authors prepare their novels for self- or traditional publishing, including help not only with storycraft and production but also book submission documents, such as queries and synopses.

David Henderson

David has worked on 100+ manuscripts that have landed publishing deals.

DAVID has built up a distinguished career as an editor, writer, ghostwriter, and filmmaker. His flair for the written word, creative acumen, and meticulous attention to detail has earned him a loyal following of clients in need of copy editing, content editing, developmental editing, or ghostwriting.

Book Editing

After earning his master’s degree in Journalism at Northwestern University, he spent five years working for an academic press and later for Hachette Book Group.

His long track record has given him exposure to a wide range of authors, writing styles, and genres, including novels, non-fiction works, self-help books, memoir, Christian and other spiritual writing, and business books.

Thesis and Dissertation Writing Consultant

He’s also a specialist in academic writing and often partners with graduate students to bring their thesis or dissertation to the next level.

Screenwriting / Filmmaker
With professional experience in both fiction and documentary film, as a producer, writer, and director, David is well versed in the art of cinematic storytelling and can edit or critique your screenplay.

Ana Howard

Book Editor and Author of Adult, Young Adult, and Middle Grade Fiction, Memoirs, Historical Fiction

Ana specializes in fiction and offers a unique editorial perspective as the author of eight novels. Her books include contemporary and historical children’s, young adult, and adult literature. She has worked with both small independent publishers, such as Roberts Rinehart and Brown Barn Books, and large publishing houses, such as Penguin Putnam and American Girl.

She has seen one of her novels made into film and has won numerous literary awards.

She believes that even in today’s tough publishing climate, it is still possible for new writers to enter the business and succeed. Second to writing her own novels, she loves to mentor others to help them achieve their goals. She knows firsthand how writers benefit from the help and support of others writers and/or editors.

Jeff Karon

Copy Editor, Proofreader, Ghostwriter, Writer

JEFF KARON, Ph.D., is a former English professor, writer, editor, poet, technical editor, teacher, and consultant with over 25 years of experience working with writers of all skill levels. While part of the Book Editing Associates network, he has edited over 100 books, articles, stories, poems, and Ph.D. dissertations across a broad range of disciplines in the humanities, social sciences, and business. His specialties include general fiction, biography/memoir, literary criticism, philosophy, poetry criticism, creative writing (including poetry), technical and business writing, journal articles, and scholarly books.

John David Kudrick

Christian Fiction and Nonfiction

With a BA in theology, an MA focused on fiction, and nearly two decades of editorial/writing experience, John David has been privileged to work with some of the finest publishers in the nation, including Bethany House, David C Cook, Barbour, NavPress, Realms Fiction, Marcher Lord Press, and Whitaker House – where, as senior editor, he worked on James Byron Huggins’ Nightbringer, a book that Library Journal named one of its annual top five Christian novels.

To date, John David has had the opportunity to serve as an editor on more than 175 published titles and to work with authors from across the US and around the world.

Floyd Largent

During my 35+ years in the literary world, I've built experience in many aspects of the field---from non-fiction to fiction, short stories to novels, game creation to publication tips. My first love as a fiction editor has always been science fiction/fantasy and related genres. In addition to many SF/F novels for adults, I've also had the pleasure of working on a number of fun and imaginative Young Adult works, mostly fantasy, and always welcome the opportunity to assist writers with such stories. In addition, I've also edited several imaginative mystery series, as well as the occasional romance and mainstream work. My greatest strengths lie in manuscript evaluation and developmental editing, especially for works in which science, characterization, mystery, and unusual cultures play an important part.

My education also informs my work as a non-fiction editor. In that realm I specialize in anthropology, history, science, spirituality (including religious and New Age), and memoirs, with an eye on how the topics in these works affect both individuals and societies.

E.M. Levy

A professional editor for over thirty years, E. M. Levy has edited books for Doubleday, Random House, Princeton University Press, Macmillan, Paulist Press, Prentice-Hall, SUNY Press, Scholastic, Scholars Press, Praeger, Solution Tree Press, and many other publishers and private individuals. His projects have received publishing and professional awards. For over seventeen years, he worked in-house as a senior editor focusing on developmental and substantive editing.

With a strong academic background, an advanced degree from Columbia University, and experience teaching at both secondary and college levels, he is at home in the social sciences and humanities. He has edited important works of religious scholarship. In the area of general nonfiction, he has worked in a variety of genres, including biography, public affairs, spirituality, and memoir. Many authors who are nonnative English speakers have turned to him to perfect their English written expression.

Jeff Laurence

Technical and Scientific Editing Services

Dr. Laurence has over 30 years of combined experience in academia and in the private research and development business sector. In addition to a bachelor’s degree in Biology and Chemistry, he obtained his MS in Toxicology from the University of Kentucky and his Ph.D. in Comparative Biochemistry from the University of California, Berkeley. Throughout his career, he has mentored many students and employees. He has a particularly effective style of teaching and enjoys working with graduate students at all phases of their studies from project inception and design to obtaining their degree.

Kendra Lund

Kendra Lund, PhD, is a book doctor, book editor, author, writing coach, and publishing consultant.

Kendra specializes in books on the spiritual end of the self-help spectrum, along with professional how-to guides, memoirs, and fiction. She is a passionate advocate for authors with a message that inspires positive change in our lives.

As a book doctor, Kendra serves mainly first-time authors who want to share their wisdom and experience by writing a book, especially professionals in the self-development field. Publishing a book helps authors to make a difference by reaching a wide audience. For the professional, a book is a virtual passport as it opens the door to new career opportunities. Kendra also enjoys working with novelists who want to take their writing to the next level. She offers highly intuitive support to bring out the greatest potential in every book and author. Whether working on a subtly nuanced fictional narrative or a practical guide to spiritual wisdom, she respects the integrity of the author's unique voice and vision.

Kelly Lynne

Kelly Lynne is the proud "auntie" to over 150 published novels, novellas and short stories, which have sold to Kensington Publishing, Carina Press, Cerridwen Press, Awe-Struck Publishing, Samhain Publishing, Wings ePress, Bradley Publishing, Damnation Books, and The Wild Rose Press as well as author self-published titles. These books have gone on to earn high praise from reviewers and readers, as well as multiple awards and contest wins. As an editor for The Wild Rose Press, she edited contemporary western and light paranormal romances, with heat ratings from sweet to spicy. Outside of romance, her fiction fortes include sci-fi, fantasy, speculative fiction, young adult, and stories of psychic or supernatural phenomena.

Empathic about the "feel" of a story, Kelly provides suggestions so that authors may revise with their own style in mind, preserving the individual voice, while alerting authors to current trends in publishable styles. Developmental fiction editing requires an emotional investment in the work—an investment of time and effort that Kelly is happy to make.

Kelly has published over 100 non-fiction articles, four short stories, and two novels. She knows the hoops authors are expected to jump through and helps authors polish their submission packets. Query letters, synopses and professional quality formatting are as important as a well-polished manuscript.

Holly Monty

Editing and Formatting Services

APA, Chicago, MLA, or according to university or publisher guidelines Chicago to APA conversions Tables, figures, and equations LaTeX document editing

Holly Monty has been a dissertation editor, nonfiction book editor, and self-publishing consultant for more than a decade. Holly has edited 200+ nonfiction books published by top university and academic presses, including Cambridge University Press, Oxford University Press, MIT Press, University of Minnesota Press, University of New Mexico Press, John Wiley, W. W. Norton, Sage, Springer, Elsevier, Routledge, Greenwood, ABC-CLIO, Praeger, Cengage, and Teacher Ideas.

Aubrey Otero

Ghostwriter, Book Indexer, Copy Editor, Proofreader

AUBREY OTERO has 30+ years of experience as a writer and editor, including fiction, nonfiction, medical, and technical. In the past eight years, she edited and proofread 34 nonfiction books, 32 academic books, 5 college-level textbooks, and 130 academic books.

After obtaining her MA in English Literature and MFA in Creative Writing/Fiction, she began a career as a technical writer, first in geophysics and geology, and later in information technology. Eventually going freelance, she continued her technical writing, and transitioned into journalism, working as Associate Editor/Editor of the Catholic newspaper of San Diego.

Aubrey taught writing at the university level, at the University of California, San Diego Extension program and at the University of Phoenix. With a background teaching fiction writing, she knows how to help develop a writer's voice and can give tried-and-true guidance on plot and story development, creation of believable and memorable characters, and writing with the senses, among other topics vital to writers. Her services include line-by-line editing and proofreading, story editing, stylistic editing (grammar, punctuation, etc.) and, if requested, ghostwriting. She is part cheerleader and part trail guide, encouraging the author's efforts while showing the way to improve the manuscript.

She understands that a writer paying for an editor wants professional feedback, not simply the encouragement typical of family or friends.

Aubrey has edited hundreds of nonfiction and academic books, and dozens of fiction manuscripts, many of which have gone on to be published.

Andrea Reed

Book Designer and Typesetter

Andrea is a book designer and typesetter with 20 years of experience working with traditional publishers and self-publishing authors.

Andrea has worked on hundreds of books for publishers including John Wiley & Sons, Addison Wesley Longman, and McGraw Hill, an 1,800-page book for the Office of the President, and many books for Smithsonian Institution.

New York Times Bestselling and Award-Winning Book Editor

Andrea Robb spent over a decade as an acquiring editor at Penguin Random House, working on key titles for Knopf, Doubleday, Pantheon, Vintage and Anchor Books. Prior to that, she was on the editorial team at The Book of the Month Club, where she evaluated hundreds of titles for club inclusion.

Notable fiction projects that Andrea has edited have included Jennifer McMahon's NY Times bestselling novels The Winter People, The Night Sister, and Burntown; the NY Times bestselling Veronica Mars mystery series; the Harvard Lampoon's NY Times bestselling parody Nightlight; the translations of Paulo Coelho's internationally bestselling novels The Spy, Adultery, Manuscript Found in Accra, and Aleph; Whiting Award-winner Melanie Sumner's How to Write a Novel; and Latifah Salom's debut suspense novel, The Cake House.

Nonfiction projects include blogger and comedian Samantha Irby's We Are Never Meeting in Real Life; Vela magazine founder Sarah Menkedick's debut essay collection Homing Instincts; multiple anthologies in the bestselling Foxfire series on Appalachian history and culture; the political travel guide The Nation Guide to the Nation; and new editions of Edward M. Hallowell and John J. Ratey's Driven to Distraction and Answers to Distraction.

Ginny Rogers

Polish provides luster, adds richness, and enhances beauty. It works on fingernails, shoes, furniture, even your car. Ginny Rogers specializes in polishing your writing, whether a book manuscript, a dissertation, or a business manual.

Snow Men, by Andrew CeroniFirst-place winner of the 2015 CIPA EVVY Award for Best Fiction - Action/Adventure genreWinner of Outskirts Press Best Book of 2015 awardHonorable mention, Writer’s Digest 2015 book awards

Steven Severn

STEPHEN SEVERN is an award-winning ghostwriter, editor, screenwriter and writing coach. Mentored by Academy Award-winning writer Stewart Stern (Rebel Without A Cause), Stephen served as editor for the #1 best-sellers Tears For My City and The Revved Life. He also served as consultant for Robert Beatty’s New York Times #1 best-selling Serafina series of children’s books, published by Disney Hyperion, and as editor for the blog of #1 best-selling Christian author Emerson Eggerichs.

Stephen’s work as editor has resulted in 25 international awards. In addition, his ghostwritten screenplay was winner of Best Adaptation at the Hollywood Book Festival, and a runner-up at the prestigious Circus Road Script Competition. He’s written for rock magazines and heavy metal websites, film and TV reviews, and ghostwritten or edited more than 30 published books.

He specializes in rescuing, restoring and reawakening broken dreams. It would be his honor to help reawaken yours.

SJ Sutton

Book Editor, Script and Screenplay Story Consultant

Publishing Consultant, Television and Film Industry Veteran

DreamWorks, Disney, Showtime, Lifetime, HBO

S.J. Sutton has worked in the book publishing and the film industries for thirty years-on the front lines and behind the scenes-finding projects to publish and/or produce, and developing and editing them, seeing them through to completion on the page or screen. In the book publishing industry, she was a developmental editor, copy editor, and proofreader for large publishers. In the film industry she worked as a story analyst and development consultant on feature film and television projects for DreamWorks, Disney, Showtime, Lifetime, among others, and worked on the development of films such as L.A. Confidential (Academy Award for Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material Previously Produced or Published), Get On Up, Enigma, HBO’s Vinyl, and countless others. She assisted writer/director Albert Brooks on Defending Your Life.

Caroline T

Editor for three New York Times, Publishers Weekly, and USA Today bestselling authors

Caroline T. has been editing popular fiction for over 20 years and has 400+ novels under her belt. Her ability to see the big picture, combined with an in-depth knowledge of today’s publishing market, makes her an invaluable partner in the editing and publishing process.

A former in-house editor at Pocket Books-a division of Simon & Schuster, the premier New York City publisher of commercial and trade fiction-an outside editor for Harper Collins/Avon, and a reader for The Literary Guild and The Rhapsody Book Club, Caroline’s particular expertise is fiction for women: she edits all sub-genres of Romance (including NA Romance), as well as Suspense, Thrillers, Mysteries and general Womens Fiction. Carla Neggers, Karen Robards and Andrea Kane-three New York Times, Publishers Weekly, and USA Today bestselling authors-had books edited by Caroline.

He’s equally at home in fiction (literary novels, commercial fiction, mysteries) and nonfiction (memoir, biography, general nonfiction). As an editor and writer he’s freelanced for Doubleday, Penguin, Bantam, Basic Books, and Beacon, among others.

Don has been singled out for distinction by the American Library Association, Publishers Weekly, and Out Magazine. As an independent scholar he's authored three books on African American history as well as several books for gay and lesbian readers. He's also an emeritus board member of the Lambda Literary Foundation. Don lives in New York City.

Thomas Wray

Christian Book Editor and Bookcrafter

I'm a veteran editor and writer, with four decades of full-time work in book publishing, focusing especially on Christian books of all kinds. I’ve also edited numerous business and leadership books, memoirs, and fiction titles.

Many of my editing projects have involved extensive collaborative writing—especially developing content from various author sources such as sermon transcripts, message outlines, letters, and journal entries. I’ve worked to maintain the author’s voice and style, and I’m grateful to have often been commended by authors for doing exactly that.

As an author, I’m currently writing the third novel in a trilogy of historical fiction (currently being agented for consideration by publishers). I’ve also written extensively for children (using a pen name), with more than twenty books published. Three of my books were winners of the Christian Book Award (the “Gold Medallion”) from the ECPA trade publishers association.